


tell me what to do

by krystalpomme



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bully Flash Thompson, Bullying, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cyberbullying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, Flash Thompson Bullies Peter Parker, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Whump, Platonic Cuddling, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sickfic, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony has to pick Peter up from school, Touch-Starved, Vomiting, ignoring, im always looking for an excuse to make peter cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26832748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krystalpomme/pseuds/krystalpomme
Summary: ned and mj are ignoring peter and flash's bullying turns cyber. peter feels more alone then ever before. and for the cherry on top, he's unbelievably sick.Ned didn't even look at Peter, glance in his direction, or even notice he was there. The other teenager just busied himself by writing down the homework in his planner that was displayed on the board. The action really hurt Peter's feelings. He put his hand down in embarrassment."Are you mad at me? What did I do?" Peter pressed, scrunching up his hands nervously in his sweater. God, his stomach was really starting to hurt right now. This wasn't the time. He needed answers.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 32
Kudos: 472
Collections: The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics, The Best of the Best MCU Fics





	1. part one

**Author's Note:**

> *warning: graphic descriptions of vomiting

It was one of those mornings that didn't feel right. It could've been his spidey-senses or just pure, plain paranoia, but Peter felt like something bad was going to happen. He contemplated whether or not he should stay home from school today to look after the city of Queens, not yet pinpointing where his paranoia was coming from. Peter reluctantly let it go, slowly slipping on his sweater over a button up, as usual.

He felt his stomach clench in pain, head spinning from the lack of food and his fast metabolism. He needed to hurry and find something to eat. Peter was alone for the next two weeks, which means May wasn't there as his daily reminder to _actually_ eat dinner and not spend hours on end trying to catch up on his homework and play superhero. She was at a conference meeting that was held for all the nurses at a higher position at the hospital. This time it was being held in San Francisco, California.

His aunt was across the country and three hours behind his own time zone. Peter quickly sent his morning text to her anyways, knowing the woman would see it when she got up in the morning. After sending his love, he pocketed his phone and rummaged through the refrigerator to find something to eat before he ran late for school.

Peter found a banana, deeming it good enough before taking off down the flight of stairs in his apartment complex. He idly munched on the banana but it didn't quell the pain in his stomach. Hm, that was weird. Usually a banana would sustain him for an hour at least, his metabolism working fast for the nutrients to settle in his stomach.

The teenager shrugged to himself and began the trek to school. This consisted of the walk to the metro, the bus ride, then finally the walk to campus. Thankfully, Happy was picking him up today to take some groceries to Tony's since the household would be hosting another child. Technically, Peter could count for three people with how much he ate. Which is exactly why the man needed way more groceries.

Peter was staying with Tony while May was away, both of them not liking the idea of Peter not being supervised. This was for two reasons. Reason number one: No one was there to monitor Spider-man's schedule. He could easily go out way past his curfew without getting caught since Tony hadn't gotten back into the routine of checking his suit after the 5 year long break he had from the boy.

Reason number two: They were both pretty sure it was illegal to leave a minor by themselves for that long without adult supervision. Not that Peter thought he needed it. He was perfectly capable of handing himself.

So the two adults came to the agreement that Tony was to watch Peter while May was away. Peter was super excited! He loved hanging out with the Stark family. He loved watching movies with the three of them and loved it even more during summer vacation when he would switch off between his two parental figures every week. They would play in the lake often and barbecue, a lot of the Avengers stopping by to hang out again.

Since school started and May didn't want to burden Tony with taking Peter to school everyday every other week, they decided that he would just stay at home with May until the next summer vacation. Peter was fine with that, Tony had his own family to take care of and Queens _was_ a bit far from the lake house. Not to mention he still got to see him on the weekends.

Nonetheless, the boy was ecstatic to spend time with Tony for a whole two weeks. He kept thinking about it even as he walked through the school doors and on his way to his locker. Peter cocked his head in confusion when he didn't see his usual friends lurking around the area when he arrived. He was known for being the late one in the group, so usually Ned and MJ would wait for him here.

Peter tried to think it was because they were held up with talking to a teacher or something, but a thought was gnawing at his head that maybe they didn't like him anymore. Maybe they had thought Flash was right, he was nerdy and poor and virtually wasn't a very interesting person.

He constantly talked about an older man since he was the only interesting thing he _could_ talk about. At least in front of MJ. His heart rate sped up with anxiety but he pushed it back. Maybe he was overreacting. They were probably talking to a teacher, they were responsible like that.

Besides, he would see Ned in first period and they would talk about Lego sets and Spider-Man like they usually do. Peter let out a sigh of relief and closed his locker door. It would be okay. He would be okay.

On the bright side, he was going to the lake house after school and he would get to see Tony. If anything happened today, he would be able to lay it all out on the man instead of being alone.

Peter made his way to first period, his stomach twisting in mysterious pain once more. He didn't have time for this, he needed to see that his best friend was in the seat next to him like he usually was.

When his eyes lied upon his Filipino friend, they softened as a small smile crept up his face. He was here, Ned didn't leave him. Peter sped walk to his seat next to him and held out his hand for their secret handshake, "Hey, man, why weren't you guys at the locker?"

Ned didn't even look at Peter, glance in his direction, or even _notice_ he was there. The other teenager just busied himself by writing down the homework in his planner that was displayed on the board. The action really hurt Peter's feelings. He put his hand down in embarrassment.

"Are you mad at me? What did I do?" Peter pressed, scrunching up his hands nervously in his sweater. God, his stomach was really starting to hurt right now. This wasn't the time. He needed answers.

Ned didn't budge, opting to scoot away from Peter to the opposite end of the table until there was no more room left to scoot into. Peter blinked rapidly out of confusion and hurt. What had he done that made Ned so mad at him? They rarely had any fall outs, and when they did, they were never so bad to the point where they would ignore each other.

"Ned, please?" He begged, "I don't know what I did to make you so mad, but I promise I'll fix it. Is it about last Friday?" Peter had momentarily forgotten that he rejected Ned's invitation for dinner with him and MJ last week. He had really missed Tony, so he promised that they could all go out to dinner and possibly have a sleep over the next Friday.

Ned didn't say anything. Not that Peter was expecting him to at this point. Peter slouched back in his chair with a defeated sigh, cheeks growing red when he realized the kids in front of him had turned around to see the drama. To see him being ignored by his first and only friend.

It was likely that if Ned was ignoring him, then MJ was too. His suspicions were correct when they had hit lunch period. He grabbed his food from the lunch line and quickly made his way over to their usual empty table, hoping to get there before the two of them so they had no where to run.

He felt guilty for trying to corner his friends, but it hurt his feelings when they had blatantly ignored him without an explanation. Frankly, it was childish since communication was the key to any relationship. Tony had told him that awhile ago and Peter never forgot it.

When he arrived at the lunch table first, his knee bobbed up and down in worry. His stomach was hurting even more at this point. Mixed in with his growing anxiety and embarrassment, he was sad to say that he felt nauseous as well. Peter was certain that his powers prevented him from ever getting sick, but anything could happen at this point. Especially since a huge purple alien titan killed half the universe only 5 years ago.

Ned and MJ were approaching with their own lunches, eyes widening in surprise before they turned stony and walked right passed him to the opposite end of the table. That's where MJ used to sit before they all had migrated to the right side of the table.

Peter's eyes watered as they sat down together, whispering and eyebrows knitted in anger and irritation. What had Peter done that made them so mad? His heart clenched and a wave of nausea flew over him. No no no, he was not about to throw up in the middle of the lunch room while his friends were mad at him.

He breathed heavily, in and out, before realizing that whatever was in his stomach had to come out. Peter got up and abandoned his lunch on the table, speed walking towards the men's restroom. He could feel the saliva gathering up in his mouth and his stomach bubbling loudly. He burst through an empty stall and threw up his breakfast.

He wrenched a couple of times before there was nothing left in his stomach. Peter gasped for air when he was done, collapsing on the bathroom tiles. Yes, it was disgusting but at this moment he didn't care at all. His stomach had cramped up due to the amount of times he dry heaved and his head was still spinning with nausea.

Throwing up had only caused him temporary relief before he started to feel like shit again. Peter didn't know how he was going to make it through the rest of the day, so he decided to just go to the school nurse. There wasn't a good reason to stay behind anyway. He was excelling in his classes and Ned and MJ had each other. He wasn't leaving any of them lonely so he didn't feel bad for wanting to go home.

Remembering how his best friends treated him, his eyes started to water again before they had turned into tears. Why had his friends acted like that? Peter had been nothing but kind to the both of them. He _loved_ them and he was being ignored without reason. He sniffed and picked himself off of the gross bathroom floor, grabbing his backpack before making his way to the nurse's office.

Upon seeing a crying Peter, the nurse's eyes softened as she stood up and greeted him, "What’s going on, honey? Do you not feel good?" Peter shook his head, tears falling more frequently now. He brought up his sweater covered hands to his eyes, trying to fight more tears from coming out.

A pitiful whine escaped his throat when he realized it wasn't going to work. For some reason, when someone asked if he was okay, he cried harder. "Okay, sweetheart. Let's get you onto a bed before I start asking some questions." The kind nurse led him to a bed before pulling the curtains around him for privacy. She checked his temperature with a confused hum, "It doesn't look like you have a fever, so that's good news. Do you want to tell me what's going on? Do you just want to relax in here before going back to class?"

Peter shook his head before trying to calm down his breathing, "I wasn't f-feeling good this morning but I didn't think it was anything. B-But I just threw up in in the bathroom and now my stomach h-hurts and I'm still nauseous. Then my friends are ignoring me and I don't know why. _I just want my dad_." He sobbed, curling in on himself from another stomach pain. Peter wanted to go home and forget about everything that had happened today. He wanted to feel better and stop the nausea constantly rolling over him. He wanted Tony to rub his back and tell him that it was going to be okay.

The nurse reached over and moved a curl out of Peter's eyes, "Okay, honey. I'll call your dad and he can come get you to take you home. Do you think you can suck on some ice chips in the mean time?"

Peter sniffled and nodded his head, relieved that he would be able to leave for the rest of the day. If Peter didn't have a temperature, he probably wasn't sick which was good news. On the other hand, whatever he had could get much much worse. He didn't want to do that to Tony, especially when he had work on top of two kids to look after for two weeks.

If he got sick, he wouldn't let Tony know. It wasn't fair. All Peter wanted was to have a good day today and spend all the time he could with the Stark family. Parker luck always had to go and ruin something.

The nurse left to go collect some ice chips in a small paper cup, gently propping Peter up on the bed so he didn't accidentally choke. She had left, probably to go call Tony since May was in California.

"Hey, uh, Peter? Is Tony Stark the right emergency contact?" The nurse said, voice a little bit shaky. Peter couldn't help but smile at that, knowing that his father figure could make people tremble with just the mention of his name. "Y-Yeah, that's him."

He heard the nurse practically loose her shit, albeit quietly, but Peter could still hear it thanks to his abilities. " _Oh my gosh, I can't believe Tony Stark's son is in my office..._ "

" _Wait...I didn't even know Tony Stark had a son..._ "

She mumbled to herself while she dialed the number. Peter could faintly hear it ring for a couple of times before the nurse perked up, probably because someone on the other line had answered.

"Hello, is this Mr. Stark?" There was a small pause before the nurse hummed, "Yeah, Peter isn't feeling too well and I told him I would give his father a call. I wasn't sure...since a May Parker is listed as his primary. Would you like me to call her instead?"

"Oh, no! That's fine. Okay, I'll see you soon. Uh huh...bye bye." The nurse swiveled back around in her chair and Peter pretended that he wasn't trying to listen in on the conversation.

"Hey, honey. Your dad said he'll be here in about 45 minutes. You can take a nap while you wait or play on your phone if you feel up to it. Just sit tight, yeah?" She patted his knee and closed the curtains again, going back to her desk to resume her work.

Peter closed his eyes in relief. Tony would be here soon. In the meantime, Peter decided to take the nurse up on her offer to go on his phone. Maybe there was a clue to why Ned and MJ were ignoring him. He pulled up his messages first, laying on his side and resting his cheek on his arm.

Their last message was yesterday afternoon. It was Sunday and they talked in the group chat about the possible sleepover next Friday. After that, Peter had done his homework and patrolled before passing out on his bed. The next day— _today_ —he came to school to find the two of them ignoring him.

Peter frowned. It didn't make any sense. He went to Instagram next and the first thing he saw was a post from a classmate he didn't know all too well. All he saw was that there was a group chat called "Penis Parker" that everyone was invited to.

Peter's heart stopped then and there when he saw the comments. They were _all_ making fun of him. Nonstop.

Peter was never popular and bullying was handed to him on the daily, but it had never gone cyber. He willed away more tears that were threatening to fall when he clicked on the person tagged. Of course it was Flash who made the group chat. Who else would it be?

He made the very wrong mistake of clicking on the link in his bio, finding the public group chat's previous messages. They were all talking about how Ned and MJ were ignoring him at lunch and he ran out. Peter bit back a sob. Unbeknown to them, he ran out because he was about to puke all over the floor, not because his friends were ignoring him.

He scrolled further up into older messages, seeing people taking pictures of him in random places like from behind his seat and replying to them with messages involving his appearance. One was making fun of how he had worn the same shirt two days in a row, saying that he couldn't even afford to do laundry.

Peter cried in embarrassment, about to turn off his phone when he saw a picture of himself bending over to get a drink from the water fountain. It was Flash himself that had captioned it this time, _'I bet this is what Penis Parker does to the dirty men on the streets to earn some extra cash.'_

It was disgusting, considering his position with his mouth open for the flow of water. But most of all, _it hurt_. All this time, Peter thought that most people had ignored him at school which made the bullying not much of a big deal. Now, looking at how many people had participated in this, he was ashamed.

Ashamed because they had been making fun of him all this time and he hadn't even noticed. Ashamed because he didn't have money like all the other kids had. Ashamed because he was so embarrassing that Ned and MJ didn't want to hang out with him anymore.

Peter turned off his phone and tried to hold in a giant sob trying to rip its way out of his mouth. He could feel his throat clench and itch, but he didn't want to sob and cry in front of the nurse.

It was embarrassing enough that he had whined for Tony to come pick him up. Peter didn't want to make an even bigger fool out of himself at this school. And who knows, maybe the staff were secretly making fun of him behind his back as well. He didn't think his classmates were, so why would the staff be any different?

He breathed in and out again, panic building up inside when he felt his stomach churn. He needed to throw up again. Luckily, the nurse had set a small waste bin beside the bed. Peter leaned over and emptied his stomach of all the water the ice chips had given him.

He gasped harshly for air with each push his abdomen forced out of him, the force of the heaves making his stomach cramp up again. When he was done, he sobbed and rested his head against the rim of the trash can, just wanting to go home.

The nurse had heard him throwing up, coming over to set the bin down again and rub his back, "It's okay, sweetheart. It's good that you let it out." She had taken a tissue and wiped the bile and spit from his chin, throwing it into the trash can.

Peter continued crying, clenching his stomach and turning on his side once again. The nurse clicked her tongue in sympathy and brought a blanket over to lay on Peter's trembling body. "Try taking a nap, Peter. I'll let you know when your dad is here."

All Peter could do was nod, before he finally closed his eyes and had let sleep take over his body.

"Hey, Bambino, wake up." Peter heard a familiar voice say next to his ear. His eyes shot open and met Tony's hazel ones before throwing his arms around the man's neck, "I want to go home." Peter said tiredly, exhaustion finally catching up to his body.

Tony returned the hug, wrapping his arms around the teenager's waist and squeezing hard, "I know, Pete. Let's sign you out and get out of here." Peter nodded, letting go of the man and pulling himself out of bed slowly. His nausea hadn't gone away, making him sway and clutch his head. Tony steadied him, his other hand holding his backpack which Peter was extremely grateful for.

The nurse spoke from her seat at her desk, "You can sign him out at the front desk. I'm just going to give you a couple of these for the ride home." She stuffed some small blue puke bags in Peter's backpack before turning to the boy, "I hope you feel better, sweetheart."

"Thank you." Peter mumbled, eyes heavy as he tried to stay up and awake. That nap had done nothing except make him more tired. "Poor thing was crying so much today. Was even calling out for you in his sleep." The nurse had said, eyes full of worry.

Tony had raised an eyebrow at that while Peter kept his eyes trained on his shoes. They had exchanged goodbyes before Tony signed him out and led him to the front of the school where his fancy sports car was clearly illegally parked. If Peter wasn't concentrating on not puking right now, he would've rolled his eyes.

Classic Tony.

"Hey, kiddo, are you feeling alright so far? Want me to drive slow or just hurry up and get you home?" He had said, arm around Peter's waist to help steady him as they walked to the car. "Hurry." He mumbled.

Tony just nodded, clearly sensing that the boy didn't want to talk. It was probably the fear that if he opened his mouth, it would induce the nausea and make him want to throw up. Tony helped Peter into the car, buckling him up and setting his backpack by his feet so he could access the puke bags when he needed to.

When he got into the driver's seat and buckled up, he turned to Peter and saw him leaning his head against the window, breathing labored as he tried to make himself not throw up again. Tony just sighed, leaning over to grab a puke bag from his backpack and leave it in the teen's lap. "If you need to throw up, Pete, then you need to throw up. It's not good if you hold it in."

Peter whined as he panicked to grab the bag, "H-Hurts..." He cried, holding the bag open in front of his mouth, waiting for the wave of nausea to come back. "I know it hurts, but sometimes we just need to let our bodies work naturally. You probably have a bug or something that your body is trying to get rid of."

Peter shook his head rapidly, "I-I'm _not_ sick, I've just had a bad day and it's my a-anxiety. Plus, I haven't been eating so it probably has something to do with that." Tony side-eyed his kid with a stern look, "After whatever this—" he waved his hands around at Peter, "—sickness is, we're going to have a long talk about why you haven't been eating. But for the meantime, I'm going to start driving now. You set the pace, tell me if I'm going to slow or too fast."

"There's a speed limit for a reason..." Peter said, mouth still hovering over the puke bag. Tony slipped on his sun glasses dramatically, "Speed limits don't exist in my world."

He heard Peter huff in amusement from the seat next to him, Tony considering it a win. Unfortunately, it was short lived when he heard a small watery burp and then a splash of _something_ dropping into the puke bag. Peter began to cry again, gasping for air once more as his abdomen kept pushing for something to come out. Tony just rubbed his back with one hand, the other hand on the steering wheel, "It's okay, baby, just let it out."

Another wave of puke was put into the bag, Tony cringing a little at the smell of bile, but virtually ignoring it since his kid didn't feel good. Tony rubbed his thumb softly at the baby curls on the back of Peter's neck as he sobbed, "You're doing good, Pete. We'll get you home soon."

Peter ignored him, feeling bad that he was throwing up in his expensive car. It could've been way worse, though. He could've been throwing up on the floor and upholstery. Peter made a mental note to thank the nurse when he was well enough to go back to school. He didn't know what he would do if she hadn't shoved the bags into his backpack.

Thankfully, Peter didn't throw up again the whole way back to the lake house. The boy's shoulders slumped in relief when he saw the familiar cabin like home come into view, relishing the sound of the tires hitting the gravel. "See? That didn't take too long at all."

"Only because you were _speeding_." Peter replied, a small smile on his face. "I only speed for my kids." He said, softly flicking Peter's forehead. Tony helped him out of the car and up to the front door. Peter was relieved that Morgan wasn't here for once, probably not going to be able to handle her energy.

It seemed like Tony was reading his mind, "I told Pepper to take Morgan with her to pick up your bags from the apartment. Morgan likes it in the city." Peter nodded, grateful that Tony had thought of him and his well-being.

They had settled him down in Peter's bed, Tony making sure to keep the light off and close the curtains, but turning the TV on so the teenager didn't get bored. He knew that Peter loved background noise while he slept, even if he didn't feel good.

"I'm going to go get a waste bin, water, and crackers, okay? I'll be right back." Tony patted his knee as he stood up to go downstairs. Upon arriving to the Stark household, he admittedly felt a lot better. It had the comfy coziness where Peter knew he could be himself and not worry about crying too much or being a burden.

Initially, Peter didn't want to tell Tony that he had been sick, but Tony had picked up on it pretty quickly. He had thought of everything already. Getting rid of Morgan for a little bit so he had some time to relax, letting Peter set the pace of the drive, and getting his room ready with the little things that had made him feel comfortable.

He felt very loved here, not quite as alone as May left the apartment when she left Sunday night. Tony came back and set the bin on the floor before climbing into bed on the other side of Peter. "What are you doing?"

"Laying here with you. I know how touch starved you get when you're grumpy." Tony said, grunting as he tried to find a comfortable position. Thank god Peter's bed was so big and plush, his back greatly appreciated it. "Getting old isn't fun, kid."

"Yeah? Well neither is getting sick."

"Touché."

Tony made Peter consume some crackers and water, even after Peter whined and told the older than that he was just going to throw them up again. "If you eat these, at least you'll have something to throw up instead of dry heaving. That's what makes your stomach hurt."

Peter scrunched his nose cutely, "I don't like the texture of cracker throw up." Tony just sighed, setting the water bottle and crackers in the boy's lap. "You aren't allowed to watch TV until you eat 3 crackers and 3 sips of water."

Peter whined and did it anyway, wanting badly to resume his nap and forget about his horrible day at school. Tony had done a great job of making him forget momentarily.

Tony settled into a comfortable position before turning on Angelina Ballerina, one of Peter's favorite shows to watch as he fell asleep. Peter smiled and tucked himself into Tony's side, eyes fluttering closed as he felt safe in the man's arms. He had nothing to worry about now. Flash, Ned, and MJ didn't haunt his thoughts as he fell asleep.

He drifted off peacefully in a place where there was no judgment. Where he felt loved by his family.

Where Tony was.


	2. part two

When Peter woke up the next morning, his head was pounding and his mouth craved water. He got up from his spot next to Tony and reached for the water bottle on the nightstand, basically inhaling the fluid. All that throwing up had caused him to be extremely dehydrated.

He had thrown up a few more times during the night, each time Tony waking up and rubbing his back, telling him that he was okay. Peter really appreciated the fact that Tony had stayed with him all night. Being all alone at school yesterday had taken a toll on him, so being with someone who genuinely loved him had boosted his mood instantly.

When Peter lied down, the door creaked open and Morgan was standing there with her teddy bear. Pepper was behind her, peeking her head in and noticing Peter was awake. She didn't hesitate to head over to his side of the bed, Morgan hot on her heels.

"Hey, Peter. How are you feeling?" She whispered softly, cupping his cheek and rubbing a thumb over it. He leaned into her touch, "I'm feeling better...but if it's okay...can I stay home?" Peter _really_ didn't want to go to school today, especially since he didn't have any friends and everyone was making fun of him in this 'group chat'.

"Okay, sweetheart. I'm going to go make breakfast, but Morgan wanted to hang out with you guys." Pepper leaned in closer to his ear, "If you aren't feeling well enough for that, I can hold her up in the kitchen with me."

Peter smiled and shook his head, "It's okay. I drank some water earlier so that really helped." Pepper nodded and kissed his forehead, making her way to the kitchen while Morgan struggled to get up onto the bed. Peter leaned over and helped her up, putting her down on the other side of Tony. Peter didn't want to risk her getting sick, even though he was pretty sure it wasn't contagious.

"Hi, Petey." She whispered pretty loudly, as children do. "Hi, Mo." He whispered back over Tony's sleeping form.

"Does your tummy still hurt?" Morgan asked, trying to clamor over her father before Peter gently pushed her back down, "No, it doesn't hurt that much today. I don't want you to get sick, so can you stay on that side for me?"

"But I want to snuggle Bambino!" She whined, gripping her teddy bear tightly. Peter couldn't help but smile at the nickname. Morgan had a habit of picking up things that her father said on the daily, Bambino being the newest addition.

"I'll be here for 13 more days, we can snuggle later."

"13 whole days?!"

"Yep."

A smile broke out on Morgan's face as she finally settled down next to Tony, watching Angelina Ballerina that was still playing on the TV. Peter sighed and laid back down on Tony's chest, breathing a little heavier now.

He had got off the hook for today, but what would happen when he was forced to go back to school? Would Ned and MJ finally tell him why they were mad? And would he finally tell Tony what was going on online?

Apparently his heavy breathing had woken Tony up because the older man wrapped his arms around him and stroked his curls, "What's going on Peter? Need to throw up again?" He said in a raspy voice, clearly still on the brink on unconsciousness.

"N-No, just...thinking."

Tony didn't push it, instead he had gone to the other side of him to say good morning to Morgan. After a few minutes, the little girl got bored of just laying there, so she had went downstairs to go help Pepper with breakfast.

"Come on, Pete. What's going on inside that big brain of yours?" Peter sighed once more, shoulders slumping as he rested against the headboard. "I dunno, just school drama." He shrugged his shoulders awkwardly.

"If I know one thing about you Pete, it's that you don't care for school drama. You wouldn't be this upset if that was the case." Tony frowned, looking a little more awake now that he knew something was bothering his kid. Peter was silent for a moment before his lip started to tremble.

"Ned and MJ are ignoring me."

The words caused the man to shoot into an upright position, eyes trained on Peter's as he watched the boy try not to cry. "What? I thought they were your buddies?" Peter nodded sadly, "I-I thought they were too, but yesterday..."

Peter paused a took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from starting another hyperventilation episode. Tony clicked his tongue and pulled the teenager into his lap like he was a giant baby. Peter tucked his head under the man's chin and continued, "Yesterday they weren't talking to me. I went to my locker like normal and I thought they would be there. They're _always_ there, so I knew something had to be wrong. I tried talking to Ned during first period but he kept scooting away from me and pretending like I wasn't there. T-Then him and MJ were avoiding me during lunch and whispering about me behind my back. I don't know what to do." Peter cried, clutching the material of Tony's shirt.

"T-They won't even tell me what I did wrong! I don't know how to fix it and I'm getting so frustrated, especially since the group chat—"

Peter stopped himself, clearly making a mistake when he had mentioned the group chat. He didn't want Tony to find out about that yet, but it seemed like Tony had heard enough. "Group chat? What group chat?" Peter had dug himself a deep grave; he might as well lay in it.

He sighed and twiddled his thumbs, “J-Just some stupid thing at school that a student started...” Tony’s eyes hardened and his hands went up to cup Peter’s cheeks, forcing eye contact between the two of them. “Are they bullying you? Don’t lie to me.”

Peter’s face contorted into something Tony never wanted to see. His eyebrows scrunched together in pain while his eyes had filled with deep and utter _sadness_. Tony saw tears begin to well up in his kid’s eyes as his lips trembled, “It’s embarrassing! Please d-don’t tell anyone!”

“Okay, calm down. I won’t tell anyone.” Tony said softly, rocking the boy back and forth in his arms, “But you’ve got to let me know what they’re doing kiddo? On a scale of 1-10.”

Peter was quite for a moment before mumbling out an answer that Tony almost didn’t catch.

“8.”

The older man sighed, squeezing Peter a little tighter. “I know you think it’s embarrassing, but what did they say? It won’t leave this room, pinky promise,” Tony said, holding up his pinky to Peter’s own. The boy smiled softly and intertwined their fingers, “Pinky promise.”

Tony watched as the smile on Peter’s face disappeared, clearly trying to figure out how to tell the story. Eventually, he took a deep breath and began, “They’ve been taking pictures of me behind my back and captioning them I guess. Mainly it’s this kid Flash, he was the one who started the whole thing. He was making nasty comments about me at the water fountain and another kid was making fun of my clothes. It just sucks because I was fine with being bullied by just Flash...but the whole school? And now I don’t have any friends so the bullying is only going to get worse.” His voice trembled, trying to keep calm while speaking.

Tony rubbed his back for support and just let them sit there for awhile. Even though he was being quiet and composed on the outside for Peter, he was fuming on the inside. He was pissed that these high school kids thought it was funny to bully someone behind their back, and even more pissed that his supposed best friends had basically left him helpless in this situation.

Peter silently cried while being held in Tony’s arms. He didn’t want to go to school tomorrow just to be ignored and constantly wondering if people were taking photos of him without him knowing. He just wanted to hang out with Ned and MJ like they usually did. He wanted to have that sleepover on Friday night.

“Peter, you know I can’t just sit by and let this happen to you.” Tony said softly after their few moments of silence. The boy didn’t say anything, eyes closed and cheeks wet. Deep down inside, Peter knew Tony wouldn’t let it go. And while he wanted to be angry with the man, he couldn’t bring himself to deny the parental possessiveness that Tony was offering. Don’t get him wrong, Aunt May was feisty when she needed to be, but having his father figure act like the father he never had warmed his heart more than he thought it would.

“I know. You’re breaking the pinky promise that _you_ offered.” Peter said pointedly, a hint of amusement shining through his voice. Tony just shook his head and pressed a long kiss to his kid’s curly hair, “I’ll buy you ice cream every day for a week after school, is that a fair deal?”

“Only if it’s Rocky Road!”

“Alright, I’ll get you Rocky Road.”

The next day, Peter stayed home from school again while Tony paced the school parking lot. Peter didn’t know he was coming to the school today, he had told the boy that he went out to go grab something from the apartment that Pepper forgot to get a couple of days ago. With a little help from Friday last night, Tony was quickly able to find the group chat that Peter had cried about.

What Tony saw was absolutely horrific. He wondered how these kids got so much joy out of being cruel and putting others down. Especially to someone as sweet as Peter. The boy who still played with Legos and cared about the city of Queens like it was his family. The same kid who blushes when he calls Tony “Dad” or hides his face in inappropriate scenes of a movie. He almost wanted to get out of bed at 1 am and end Flash’s future career, but there was nothing he could do in the am’s.

So Tony waited until sunrise and got ready as soon 7 o’clock, waking up Peter to tell him he was going to grab his Chemistry book that was in the drawer of his desk. Thank god Peter had told him he forgot it yesterday, it was the perfect cover as to not make the boy worried for the rest of the afternoon.

When Tony heard the bell of the school ring, he didn’t hesitate to march right up to the doors. Luckily he had been in the school before and remembered where Peter’s locker was. If he could find Peter’s locker, then he was bound to find the friends that had hurt him.

Students stared and gasped as they saw _Tony Stark_ walking the halls of their school, most of them pulling out their phones to record him. God, how Tony hated the phones. Not to mention half of these little bastards were bullying his kid.

Tony made sure to flip the bird in front of all of them.

Not a second later, he saw the easily recognizable kid known as Ned. Tony had seen pictures of them everywhere up in Peter’s room at May’s. His eyes narrowed and made a bee-line towards the child. He also noticed a tall girl with curly hair. That must be MJ.

Ned’s eyes widened as he saw Tony Stark approaching him. Ned might be air-headed sometimes, but he wasn’t dumb. This must have something to do with Peter. He couldn’t help but tremble and gulp, but MJ grabbed his arm and hissed out, “If this is about Peter, just know that we’re justified to feel this way. He can’t punish a minor without proof.”

Ned just nodded, watching Iron Man approach them like they were both clones of Thanos. “Care to tell me why you two buffoons are ignoring Peter? The kid was crying his eyes out dry.”

MJ blinked. What would Peter be crying for? Tony noticed her confusion almost immediately, “Well? I can stand here all day.”

“Feel free. We have class in three minutes, have fun conversing with the wall.” MJ said with a bored look on her face, about to turn around until Tony’s words made her stop in her tracks. “Did you know about the bullying? Or maybe you’re apart of it. Because I can’t think of any logical reasons why his two best friends would ditch him and leave him dangling in Flash’s face like bait.” The man said with his arms up in confusion, clearly expecting an answer.

“No, what bullying? All we know is that Peter’s the one bullying _us_. He literally called me fat and he basically called MJ a loser.” Ned bit back. Tony’s eyes furrowed in confusion, “Peter would never say that. He loves you guys to death.”

MJ just smiled with no real emotion behind it, “Well, apparently not. Have a good day Mr. Stark, and tell Peter that we don’t plan on talking to him any time soon.”

“Now, hold on, wait a damn minute. When did he say this to you guys? Cause from what I can tell, he is extremely confused. The last time you two talked was Sunday. What the hell happened between that time frame? He couldn’t have even seen you guys.”

Ned sighed and pulled out his phone, “He didn’t have to tell us anything. Look!” Tony’s eyes squinted as he looked at the screen in front of him. He saw the group chat from before but they were just screenshots, someone named Peter Parker saying slurs about Ned and MJ. With one look, Tony knew it wasn’t his Peter Parker.

He slipped on his glasses, “Fri, find out who sent this.” Ned looked amazed but confused at the same time. What if it wasn’t Peter who was really talking in the group chat? Would they have made a huge mistake? “On it, Boss.” Friday’s voice said loud and clear.

“Kid, who sent this screenshot to you? Or did you take it yourself?” Tony said, watching as Friday worked her magic to try and locate the sender of the message. “U-Uh, a girl in my class named Betty Brant. She was in some group chat and she said that Peter was talking bad about us.”

Tony just hummed, waiting until Friday’s results came in. Not even a moment later, a girl’s school picture showed up. “It seems like high school Junior Betty Brant was the one to send the messages, as well as pose as Peter Parker. There is no indication that this is Peter, seeing at the account information doesn’t correlate with the Mini Boss.”

“Thanks, Fri. You’re the best.” Tony took of his glasses and just gave the two kids in front of him a pointed look. “You really thought Peter would go behind your back and call you guys names?”

MJ was the first the speak up, Tony actually being surprised to see emotion on the girl’s face, “He’s been pretty flaky lately. He keeps saying he wants to hang out with you instead of coming out with us and so...it didn’t seem that far fetched...” She shrugged, looking extremely guilty about what they had done to Peter yesterday.

Tony’s heart swelled. Peter had been ditching his friends because he _missed him_. Not for Spider-Man or some random girl, because he missed his dad and wanted to see him in his only free time. Tony felt like he didn’t deserve the boy.

“Seeing as there was some kind of misunderstanding, I won’t blast you two into next week. I expect the two of you to apologize to him as soon as he comes back.” He clicked his tongue in annoyance. Now he had to deal with some douche named Flash and some gossiper named Betty. Who names their girls Betty anymore? This isn’t the 1950’s.

Ned and MJ nodded, “Of course! We really didn’t mean to hurt Peter’s feelings if we knew he was innocent. Honest!” Ned said, still looking a little frightened at the fact that he had been on Iron Man’s bad side. Tony just waved a backhanded goodbye, not hesitating to flip off the crowd of teenagers behind him as well.

“Do I have to go?” Peter whined into his arm at the breakfast table, bacon and eggs eaten clean off his plate. His backpack was thrown haphazardly around his shoulders as he slumped in his seat. “Yeah, kiddo. You’ve already missed three days. You can kiss that perfect attendance goodbye.” Tony said before standing up to collect everyone’s plates. Peter was grateful that Tony had taken a week off from work, he didn’t know what he would do if he wasn’t the one to drop him off at school.

Pepper had taken Morgan to preschool already while Tony and Peter stayed behind to get everything situated before dropping him off at school as well. Luckily, Peter was feeling much better and his system had kicked whatever sickness he had out pretty quickly. It was probably due to his fast metabolism.

“I never had perfect attendance anyway.” Peter mumbled, still being stubborn and not getting up from his seat. “Come on, Bambino, you’re going to be late.” Tony said while gently peeling the boy off of the kitchen table. “Fine, fine. I’m going.”

The ride to school wasn’t pleasant for Peter. At all. It was full of anxiousness and thoughts of what his school day was going to be like. Would everyone be making fun of him again? Would Ned and MJ still be ignoring him. Peter had his suspicions that Tony might have already done something by now. It was within his impulsive nature.

When they arrived at the front of the school, Peter felt like he could throw up all over again. “Please, I don’t want to go.” Peter whined, clutching onto his seatbelt for dear life. Tony gently grabbed one of the boy’s hands and intertwined their fingers, “Remember my promise? I’ll get you ice cream right after school ends. And if it gets really bad, just give me a call and I’ll come pick you up right away.”

Peter squeezed Tony’s hand and nodded, “Okay.”

He gave the man a shy smile before letting go and unbuckling his seatbelt, “I love you...Dad.”

“I love you too, Bambi. Have a good day!” Peter waved as he closed the door, looking a little stressed out, but Tony knew he would be okay. He smirked to himself.

Yeah, he would be okay.

“What the...” Peter whispered to himself as he saw the hallway littered with an unexpected surprise. Every single student was wearing...underwear over their pants. And not just any underwear, they were _Underoos._

Peter slapped his hand over his mouth, trying so desperately to hold in his laughter. This had to be the work of Tony. There was only one person who called him Underoos.

Peter shook his head in disbelief, wondering how he got such an evil man as a father. From down the hallway, he could see a sight so familiar to him that it ached. Ned and MJ were waiting by his locker.

He didn’t hesitate to jog right over with a big bright smile, “Hey, guys! I thought you were mad at me?”

Ned and MJ looked at each other before replying in unison, “We’re sorry.” Peter just blinked in confusion, “Oh. Well...uh, are you going to tell me what I did? I really didn’t mean to upset you.”

They pulled him into a giant hug, Peter melting into it and gladly returning it. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Peter. There was a huge misunderstanding, and I’m so sorry.” MJ said, squeezing him a little tighter.

“Dude, I’m so sorry I ignored you in first period. Betty sent me something from the group chat and I thought it was real and I was just super super mad but I should’ve known that you would never say something like that so I—“

Peter chuckled, “It’s okay, Ned. I understand. I’m just glad to have you guys back.”

MJ gave him an amused smirk, “So what’s with the dress code? Something your old man did?” Peter scratched the back of his neck, “Probably. He loves embarrassing people he doesn’t like so...”

Peter knew for a fact that it was Tony. There was no way that anyone in the school would wear Underoos willingly. And he knew it was a message from him.

“That’s so cool. I wish Iron Man embarrassed people for me.” Ned said dreamily, but turned to his phone in excitement, “But, look! Everyone in the group chat has their Instagram accounts deleted. And all their social media got wiped. It’s insane!”

Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise, “W-Wow, I mean that’s great, but how?” MJ shrugged, “Ask Mr. Stark, he’s the only one dramatic enough to wipe a bunch of kids’ social media.”

They all laughed together and watched as they passed by their peers, clad in Underoos over their pants, trying to speedwalk with every step they took. Peter didn’t miss the small and hurried “I’m sorry” that everyone seemed to say when he passed by. Yep, definitely the work of Tony.

Lunch passed by and Peter didn’t see any indication of Flash or Betty’s presence which he had considered very relieving. Nobody had their phones out and his friend group had conversed even better than ever.

When school was over, Peter ran to the fancy sports car—once again parked illegally on the side of the road—and threw the car door open in excitement. “No way! How did you get everyone to wear Underoos for the whole day?!” He exclaimed as he buckled his seatbelt. “Not telling. It ruins the whole ambiance going on.”

Peter raised an eyebrow incredulously, “ _Ambiance_?”

“Yes, _ambiance_.” Tony said, pulling away from the curb and speeding down the streets of Queens. The action caused Peter to subconsciously grip his arm rest like it was his life line.

“What about Flash and Betty? And everyone in the group chat? How did you get all their social media wiped?” Peter said, shutting his eyes as Tony cut people off left and right. “Simple, but it also ruins the ambiance. Let’s just say they won’t be on social media until they’re responsible enough to to use it.”

Peter smiled to himself, but smiled wider when he saw what was sitting in the cup holder next to the center console. “You got the ice cream!”

“Yep, Ben and Jerry’s Rocky Road-ish. As promised.”

The boy didn’t hesitate to dig in, grabbing the small container and the plastic spoon next to it. He took one bite and it was pure bliss, “Oh my gosh, thank you. You have no idea how much I’ve been craving this stuff.”

There was a beat of silence before Peter said in a shy voice, “And thank you for, uhm...everything.”

Tony smiled, ruffling the boy’s hair, “You’re welcome.”

Everything had gone well for Peter in the next two weeks that he had stayed with Tony. Peter got to host the sleepover, but they had settled for the tower since his bedroom was a lot bigger there. Ned brought over a Lego set they were working on while MJ bought copies of classic book that she was making them read for their mini book club. She had said that if they had forced her to build with Legos all day, then they could stand to read a small novel.

Flash and Betty had come back to school but with strict instructions to not talk to Peter. Peter was fine with that, but felt a little bad for Ned. He had a huge crush on Betty, so it was too bad she turned out to be such a big gossiper. Ned didn’t mind though, he was happy to support his best friend even if it meant letting go of a small crush.

Since hearing what MJ had to say about Peter flaking, he had a long conversation with May about how he would like to go back to their previous schedule. They would switch off with the boy weekly so Peter didn’t have to cancel on any of his plans. Both May and Peter were ecstatic, May finally getting some adult time that she so desperately needed. Peter got to see Tony more which definitely upped his mood more often than not.

All in all, Peter was grateful to have someone like Tony in his life. He felt safe and loved surrounded by his two families and great best friends. Peter didn’t have to worry about a thing.

He had everything he ever wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! thanks for reading my first two-part series! i hope you guys enjoyed! i’m thinking of participating the famous ‘field trip to stark industries’ trope for my next fic 😳
> 
> let me know what you guys think! i love reading your comments, it’s definitely the highlight of my day <333 thank you for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone! this is my two part series of sick and (once again) ignored peter. it’s not as angsty as i would usually go for, but i decided to give peter a break for once and let him have tony be his pillar. i might get a comment or two about peter being ooc, but i’m obsessed with a whiny touch-starved peter that i couldn’t help myself. this was originally a one-shot, but it was way too long so i just decided to cut it into two parts. the second part should be up in a day or two, so don’t worry! peter will resolve things with ned and mj :)
> 
> please leave feedback, i love hearing from the readers. it honestly makes my day so so so much better <333 thank you for reading!


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